Trust

Grandmaw lived with us my entire childhood. She would rise early daily. On the mornings I would awaken early to go hunting or otherwise, she would already be up beginning her daily routine of homemade biscuits and bacon or sausage.

She ran the classic white german sided country store that was in walking distance to the house. During rainstorms, you could hear the pitter patter of the metal roof.  By 7 am, she would start her short journey to open up where many locals would be waiting on her. As I look back, I realize this small trek was part of her exercise routine. At the store, she sold cokes (for northerners, that means Pepsis, Coke-Colas, Mountain Dew, Dr. Pepper and Cheer wine), nabs (peanut butter and cheese crackers), tobacco products, flour, Crisco, bread, potted meat, Vienna sausages, and sardines just to mention the best sellers. The store was heated by a wood stove. The front of the store had a counter with what we would now call an old-timey cash register. It was filled with enough cash and change to handle daily transactions. Grandmaw would usually be around the stove in the winter or she would have a chair pulled up to the quilting rack needling the beautiful patterns like the lone star

pattern.

Regulars would come in the store to purchase their staples and sit around the stove to warm up. When it was time to go, my grandmother would exercise trust with so many of the customers she knew. She would allow them to make their own change. She had relationships with these people to enter her “circle of cash”, her money drawer and put in the 50 cents for a drink or dollar and withdraw the change. I would always ask her “Grandmaw, do you really trust people to make the right change or worse yet, steal from you. She would tell me, “Know who you allow in your money drawer." With those that she considered in her “circle”, she would never really concern herself with people taking from her.

I am reminded of that with a mentor of mine in the auction industry. Early on in my real estate auction career, I brought a farm to him (a competitor, and friend), and we conducted a significant joint venture transaction together. We later did another transaction which a result of that original auction. He and I never had a written agreement, it was strictly a gentlemen’s agreement. You could say we opened the cash register up to make change.

I asked Grandmaw if she thought anyone ever stole from her. She said she was certain it happened but said those people probably needed the money worse than she did. The list of values I learned from the country store continue to teach me things. Trust is an important one. Allow people in your life you can trust, and live a life whereby they can trust you. I still call my auctioneer friend my mentor and still call him occasionally to talk auctions, real estate and sometimes just life. He's one person I know my grandmother would have allowed to make his own change.